do this because we know the trouble goes beyond borders and prejudice. the trouble teaches compassion to travel is a necessity. to travel is a right for all remember that this world is full of ours to explore. and it's a strange thing for us to be a part. cats are always going places together. different disagreements or the u.n. prolongs the agony of hundreds of thousands of people in syria's eastern greater. polo both in georgia their live from doha i'm martin dennis also coming up. four

separate attacks across afghanistan target the security forces as well as cobbles diplomatic area. the u.s. imposes the biggest package of sanctions on north korea over its nuclear program plus. the united states confirms its embassy will move from television to jerusalem by may that's much earlier than expected. but first u.n. diplomats have failed to agree a resolution that would stop the fighting in syria and allow in food and medicine the desperate civilians it's understood that russian objections are blocking agreement and intense the games he asians continue here's our diplomatic editor james pays. all day frantic negotiations here at the united nations to try and

get a security council resolution passed a great deal of the pressure on the russian ambassador vasoline who has problems with some of the language in the draft resolution drawn up by kuwait and sweden at one point the kuwaiti ambassador the president of the security council appeared with the other nonpermanent members of the so-called elected ten and he sounded upbeat we're still working on. the language on some of the but i did ask but we are almost there and we would like you know as a been holder as a president of the city council to thank actually the eaton for their support to a lot of votes and hopefully you are so close to adopt this illusion today throughout the day votes were scheduled then perspire own meetings were delayed towards the end of the day the us ambassador nikki haley tweeted unbelievable that russia is stalling a vote on a ceasefire allowing humanitarian access in syria how many more people will die

before the security council agrees to take up this vote let's do this tonight the syrian people can't wait but in the end the security council decided to postpone its vote until saturday this was the comment from the swedish ambassador i'm trying to facilitate and meaningful outcome of this security council so i can only protect what we're trying to do and that is to have a resolution adopted yesterday and now we have not achieved i find that extremely frustrating given what we are faced with on the ground at the end of the day the russian ambassador was chatting with his syrian colleague bash i'll jaffrey it's still unclear whether any vote will actually take place and whether a vote will pass what is certain is that the syrian government bombardment for now will. continue well as james said the lack of action at the u.n.

means that more suffering is in store for the people inside syria activists on the ground say government helicopters are now dropping barrel bombs on residential neighborhoods in eastern gator more than four hundred forty people have died in just six days of some of the injured varied reports. there's a lot of the interview done they call out for those left on another floor but in the dense dust and debris it's hard to see who's left the upper floor is on fire. the doctor tells ali to open his eyes so he can wash medical workers in eastern guta are calling for urgent assistance because of the continuous heavy bombardment . incendiary bombs are now appearing in the night skies weapons intended to start large fires when they hit the ground. people in bodies are pulled out from crevices between buildings the nearly four hundred thousand people in the besieged enclave

are dying in their hundreds how to be a bad what's taking place in eastern is a genocide and a crime against humanity in violation of international and humanitarian law and the perpetrators should be held liable accountable and cannot escape punishment under any circumstances russia is to blame for directly being involved in the military campaign and even apartment graphic videos we've chosen not to show you contain body parts scattered in the aftermath of the latest onslaught by the assad government and its allies. the opposition holds russia and iran responsible. when the dust settles the destruction is clear people have been forced to live in underground shelters but. one of the message to the security council is for a ceasefire or truce for days airstrikes and bombardments have forced families and children into underground shelters we can't do anything we can't even go outside to get food but when the outside looks like this there aren't many places people can

go to the ferocity of the bombardment and the arrival of troops on the outskirts of both are battling with fighters it's reminiscent of what happened to other rebel held parts in places like homs and aleppo entire populations were evacuated to new places in syria and people inside besieged with the have been cheering order flits evacuation zones convinced that this is what is going to happen to them as well as . there's been a surge in violence across afghanistan today let's talk to our correspondent tony badly is in the capital kabul take us through what we know about four separate attacks at this point. yes three suicide attacks one of the capital kabul being claimed by islamic state we got the latest figures from the interior ministry they say that three people have been killed and five wounded this is an attack in the diplomatic area of the city at

a military intelligence building there was also a minute just building attacked in alaska ghar in helmand province where one person was killed and six were injured and in the early district there was an attack on the a military base there where two soldiers were killed but the other attacks apart from kabul being carried out by the taliban they have claimed responsibility and the biggest attack was in fire a province where a large scale taliban attack force attacked the military base there an afghan military base and eighteen soldiers being killed that's the latest casualty toll there we understand there are more people in the base but we have no further information about their fate as yet and so can we say that this constitutes the start of what is the yearly annually the most intense period of fighting in afghanistan and the spring offensive is this the beginning of it. well it's hard to say it's the beginning i mean it's hard to say what the beginning

is and what the end is it seems in previous years we've had these various offensives throughout the year they now seem to run into each other waiting for the normal annual spring offensive by the taliban but these attacks that we've had in the last few weeks you remember the ambulance bombing kabul and also the attack on the into your intercontinental hotel this to show your intense period of activity we don't know if that's going to escalate further we don't know what the message is here but it shows that both islamic state and the taliban intend to carry out attacks and quite capable of doing so of course at the other end of the scale although these attacks have been affected mainly military personnel today normally it's civilian casualties the united nations released a report showing that last year ten thousand civilians were killed or injured a lot of them by suicide bombs and they also report that suicide bombings are on the increase this is no more the most favored weapon of attack so pretty good news

in afghanistan but i have to say another normal day all right tony badly there live in kabul thank you very much. government buildings in mere miles troubled rakhine state have been targeted in a series of bombings three separate explosions went off in the state capital city on saturday injuring at least one policeman three more unexploded devices the seized and three days ago a bomb killed two bank employees in the northeastern city of less shia and so far there's been no claim of responsibility but the other can range a salvation army has been fighting with the military over the past year. president says washington is imposing its largest ever set of sanctions on north korea they aim to isolate and increase the pressure on pyongyang to give up its nuclear program the measures specifically target maritime activity sixteen north korean shipping companies. along with several based in hong kong and mainland china

as well as in taiwan twenty eight ships are on the list again mostly north korean but two are from panama one from the kemar us and another from tanzania and one taiwanese individual has also been sanctioned the trash a good name has the latest now from kang known in south korea. an official with the south korean foreign ministry says this is a reaffirmation of the united states' desire to move towards a peaceful diplomatic resolution of the korean issue and that these additional sanctions are in keeping with a policy of trying to exert maximum pressure through sanctions to get north korea to denuclearize the official also says that he hopes that this latest round of sanctions will inspire the international community to continue imposing that is clearly an illusion to russia and china who've got only been accused of not doing

their part to impose current sanctions but perhaps helping north korea evade them during the latest round of sanctions announced chinese shipping companies and vessels are on the blacklist this is what south koreans are saying that they looked as if it had gotten even if we pursue sanctions we need to have the room for dialogue over the severe sanctions concerned me as a south korean because something worse can happen. people to the. north korean sanctions should continue unless they keep up their nuclear weapons i think more than thirty percent of the south korean population agrees with me on social media some are saying that the united states is not acting in a considerate manner that it's putting its allies south korea in an awkward position one person saying that perhaps the united states just wants to solve the korean problem on its own another person wondering if the continued isolation of north korea will inspire a quote preemptive strike scenario the big question is how will north korea react.

since we come here. a full election aides to donald trump pleads guilty as more challenges are revealed in the investigation into alleged russian meddling in u.s. politics. how a multimillion dollar gas pipeline. i mean afghanistan could mean more than just economic benefits. and there we've had a lot of heavy showers over parts of the philippines recently for look at the satellite picture we can see this bright white area of cloud here giving us a lot of rain over mindanao and slowly it's working its way towards the west more of us across the philippines will see some wet weather during the day on sunday and that sort of links down to what's going on over borneo and across into singapore as

well some heavy showers here in this whole system and pushes that a little bit further northwards as we head through the day monday for now the majority of that is staying away from vietnam so here will be a good deal of cloud the chance of a few outbreaks of rain but we won't see the heavy rain just yet as we head down towards australia here there's also been an awful lot of what weather a lot of it just in the southeast and parts of queensland because see there's also been plenty of showers further north townsville seen some pretty lively ones and also further towards the northwest as well through da winds also seen some shop showers this region again will see plenty of wet weather during the day on sunday but also we're going to see some wet weather for the south today for some of us in new south wales it's been a very dry safe obvious month so the showers here will be welcome twenty seven the maximum there in sydney on sunday but as we head into monday the temperatures drop more showers are likely here is still far warmer in adelaide at twenty nine.

on counting the cost how corrupt is your country transparency international has the latest global rankings venezuela makes history by launching a crypto currency can south africa plug a hole in its finances as cape town faces a water shortage counting the cost at this time. tougher to take a look at the top stories here it out as there are hundreds or thousands of people

trapped in a rebel held on plays syria's capital being bombed for a seventh consecutive day efforts to establish a cease fire are being delayed at the u.n. and add to this on the ground say government helicopters are dropping barrel bombs on residential neighborhoods. there's been four separate attacks in afghanistan with at least twenty soldiers killed in the taliban attack on an army outpost in the west of the country two other attacks targeted soldiers in southern helmand province while in the capital kabul a suicide bomber blew himself up in the diplomatic area. president trump says washington is imposing its largest ever set of sanctions on north korea aimed at isolating and increasing the pressure on pyongyang to give up its nuclear programs the latest measures specifically target north korea's shipping activity. by the sanctions also include companies in hong kong mainland china and taiwan pal and.

comments on social media largely support the sanctions many expressing frustration with north korea but there are some who say that it's china's responsibility and not the u.s. to bring their neighbor in line beijing is north korea's closest ally and biggest trading partner and is seen as having the most clout when it comes to pyongyang's affairs but since can john and its power relations have soured particularly due to pyongyang's refusal to attend you can arise asian talks hosted by bridging beijing has taken a tough stance against conjunctions regime and cooperated with previous un sanctions including a blockade on the oil and fuel which would have had a huge impact on north korea and fact the latest data from china's customs show that traders drop fifty two percent from a year earlier educating that china has largely complied with the u.n. sanctions what is interesting though is as china climbs down on exchanges to pyongyang hong kong has become a major source of funds for north korea the u.s.

has called on the territory to tighten regulations and next week a new set of rules will come into place to close loopholes and shipping and other transfers while the u.s. has sent warnings to north korea and shown it means business analysts say that in order to enforce any of these latest measures effectively china will have to be on board the united states has confirmed it will open its new embassy in jerusalem this may that's much earlier than expected palestinians have condemned the announcement saying it's a provocation president jordan has more. the news the u.s. embassy would move from television to jerusalem on may fourteenth ok not in a communique but in a tweet from israel's intelligence minister i would like to congratulate donald trump on his decision to transfer the u.s. embassy on israel's seventieth independence day no greater gift than that. a

short time later the u.s. president donald trump confirmed the news in the speech i was hit by more countries and more pressure and more people calling begging me don't do it don't do it don't do it. i said we have to do it it's the right thing to do it wasn't december trump announced he was moving the embassy to jerusalem. and he angered at those who said the u.s. was basically giving jerusalem to israel outside of final status talks with the palestinians the palestinian president mahmoud abbas was among those who condemned truff but at the u.n. security council this week it was clear abbas had moved on he told him the era of the u.s. as an honest broker is over and that it's time to try something new and the art of grammar i would call for the convening of an international peace conference by mid two thousand and nineteen based on international law and relevant un resolutions with broad international participation including the two concerned parties and

regional and international stakeholders one house standing in a politician says the embassy is an affront to his community. and this presents a very serious provocation to the palestinian side besides the fact that moving the embassy to jerusalem is by its participation in violation of national a u.s. based analyst called the move in date very bad foreign policy rather than just giving jerusalem away to the israelis what he could have done is said we will acknowledge jerusalem as the capital of israel if you dismantle all the illegal settlements and so what he stand now it seems given away very big valuable check and essentially gotten nothing in return the ambassador david friedman and a few aides will join current consulate staff at their office in jerusalem a new building won't be built for several years there's no denying the embassy move will affect any and all peace talks going forward rosalyn jordan al-jazeera

washington. a lebanese man has been arrested on suspicion of being involved in the death of a filipino maid in kuwait joanna demo fellas is body was found in a freezer more than a year after she was reported missing police arrested her former employer now their asses off in lebanon his wife is also a suspect but she remains at large them are fellas is death prompted the philippine government to ban new deployments of workers to kuwait and to repatriate hundreds of its nationals from their. special counsel robin miller who's investigating alleged russian interference in the us election has revealed the latest charges against extra aid for manifold he's accused of secretly paying unnamed european politicians in twenty twelve and twenty thirteen to lobby for ukraine's then government which was pretty much scare core papers say manifold also while the politicians more than two million euro's. now it comes as another campaign

aide has changed his plea to guilty rick gates's admission of conspiracy and of lying to the f.b.i. means he's willing to cooperate and testify against others as he called hey michael . thank you it's happened again another member of donald trump's twenty sixteen campaign walks into the courthouse and pleads guilty to a serious felony conspiring against the united states and line to investigators gates isn't a household name but it's believed he played an important role in the campaign and inauguration often seen right next to his boss like here prepared for his party's acceptance speech gates was the former deputy campaign manager for trump and a longtime business partner of campaign chairman paul man of fort gates was indicted with man a for last october for money laundering later faced charges of bank fraud and tax evasion both men originally pled not guilty gates joined the

term campaign in june of two thousand and sixteen and stayed on after man a fort was fired this will put more pressure on man afford to follow suit and flip giving evidence on people higher up in the campaign he was in that critical meeting between donald trump jr jared cushion or and the russian lawyer linked to the kremlin this is now the third trump campaign official to come to this courthouse and plead guilty with that there's been a lot more talking conservative circles the president should simply pardon everyone involved under the constitution he can do that you can pardon pretty much anybody except himself it would be politically risky but there's another problem the special counsel's been working with states' attorneys and when it comes to stay crimes well there's literally nothing the president can do to interfere so far nineteen people have been indicted in connection with the mole or investigation into possible russian collusion for have flipped making it likely that more arrests are coming and making it harder to say there's nothing here it described. it's more

and more the claim that this is just fake news there's nothing there of there's nothing there why are people pleading guilty they usually do that in order for prosecutors to get people more powerful in this case closer to the president what's not know just how high this will go if it's possible it could lead to the president himself patty calling al-jazeera washington. the recovery efforts still underway after at least thirty eight people were killed in two car bombings in somalia the first mass was at a checkpoint near the presidential palace in the capital mogadishu the second was in front of a popular hotel group al-shabaab has claimed responsibility. egypt will vote for a new president next month and campaigning to win over voters is underway two men vying for the position stuff is taking on president of the fattah el-sisi but many question if this election will be free and fair mary on the whole and has more. on

the president abdel fattah el-sisi won egypt's presidency back in two thousand and fourteen by a landslide. there were. any same seat for another the only man to stand against president sisi is missing moustapha mussa all other challenges have either been detained disqualified or cited pressure for abandoning the campaign yes so i don't think that is a legitimate candidate as the news reports have shown he was previously a supporter of sisi as a candidate he lobbied in advocated for him and for him to that announce themselves as the opposition just hours before the deadline shows that somebody made a call to him and said i need you to be a placeholder so that it is not so apparent that sisi is destined to win the

election of the i'm a war on. the most recent to leave the race was former general and army chief of staff sami and then he was arrested soon after announcing his plan to run the army accusing him of not getting proper permission and forging documents has the upper abdomen name for two a leading opposition figure and for mccain did it in the two thousand and twelve race was also arrested accused of alleged ties with the outlawed muslim brotherhood . as the former prime minister ahmed schiff explained to stand was short lived he withdrew his candidacy after he was deported from the united arab emirates where he'd been living in exile and he was then arrested in egypt khalid alley an opposition leader who also ran in the two thousand and twelve presidential polls said he was bad from standing because of a jail term that he can tastes minister. lawbook muhammadan while sadat the nephew of egypt's assess native former president anwar sadat opted to cancel his

campaign and after egyptian army colonel ahmed can sell was said he would run he was given six years in prison on charges of or opinions contrary to what egyptian officials called the requirements of military order for the military then targeted former generals who used to be leaders up there in the form of work which is shows a level of desperation on a level of aggression i don't think is going to be replaced so the elections will be replaced if he is replaced through. by and other general international rights groups have called the selection of fast and some in the opposition have suggested a boycott cc's rise to the presidency came after the two thousand and thirteen military coup that deposed his democratically elected predecessor mohamed morsi and as it stands sisi looks poised to stay on for a second maidana honed to zero. european council president donald tusk has

warned the u.k.'s approach to the next stage of brecht's in negotiations is based on pure illusion he was speaking at an e.u. summit in brussels and he said britain was still trying to cherrypick its future relationship with the bloc and it follows reports that the british prime minister to resign may's divided cabinet has finally reached a common position reports suggest senior ministers are now backing a plan that they're calling managed divergence and that would mean the u.k. accepting some e.u. regulations after bracks said donald tossed dismissed the plan the u.k. government seems to be moving towards a more detailed position. however if the media reports are correct. i'm afraid that position to do is based on pure illusion. it looks like the cake for those of you still alive.

from the very start it has been a key principle of you to serve and that can be no cherry picking. slow single market a la carte this is and will continue to be a key principle i have no doubt. conjunction has begun on the afghan section of a major gas pipeline linking four countries in asia the project is backed by the us pakistan and even the taliban as it's hoped transit fees will help stabilize afghanistan's economy in tears tired explains. there isn't much to cheer about in afghanistan these days but on friday there was an exception construction began on a pipeline project to carry natural gas from turkmenistan through the country to india and pakistan workers welded the first link of pipe crossing the border between turkmenistan and afghanistan because our district near herat

a ten billion dollars project will bring jobs and income but this project brings electricity gas work and life it brings light to the dark homes in afghanistan pakistan and india and also brings energy to each of our investors had with the ship. the ceremony was watched by turkmenistan's president the prime minister of pakistan and india as minister for external affairs who joined by video link a project known as toppy the initials of the four countries is being described as a new page in regional cooperation and hopes for a better future. after a long time afghanistan is taking part in a regional project which will provide jobs for our people i'm hoping that this regional cooperation will result in closer relations between the countries and that it will help afghanistan become most stable but i want but i'm not sure that the tapi project brings a message of peace so it will help to bring peace in our country and also in the wider region the tension between the countries in the region will reduce the

pipeline will run one thousand eight hundred fourteen kilometers and carry thirty three billion cubic meters of natural gas each year it's expected to be completed by january two thousand and twenty security in herat was tight for the ceremony but the taliban has given its support for the pipeline reversing an earlier stand observers say this is probably because of its close ties with pakistan which will take forty percent of the gas and make a profit of twenty five percent on the sale with the security fears soften the main focus now is attracting the investors to raise the capital to complete the project but for now everyone seems to be happy in al-jazeera. chabris to recap the top stories here at al-jazeera hundreds of thousands of people trapped in a rebel held wrong near syria's capital of being bombed for

a seventh consecutive day after a suicide mission have been delayed at the u.n. three more people have been killed in recent hours activists on the ground say government helicopters are dropping barrel bombs on residential neighborhoods although four hundred forty people have been killed in eastern since sunday having four separate attacks in afghanistan with at least twenty soldiers killed in a taliban attack on an army outpost in the west of the country two other attacks targeted soldiers in southern helmand province two soldiers died in now the alley and one in lashkar gah. all in kabul a suicide bomber blew himself up in the diplomatic area three people were killed five others were wounded in the attack near the u.s. embassy and nato headquarters u.s. president donald trump says washington is imposing its largest set of sanctions on north korea they're aimed at isolating and increasing pressure on pyongyang to give

up its nuclear program the latest measures specifically target north korea's shipping activity and the u.s. has confirmed it will open its new embassy in jerusalem this may that's much earlier than expected palestinians have condemned the announcement saying it's a provocation the decision in december to move the embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem sparked protests around the world. recovery efforts are underway after at least thirty eight people were killed in twin car bombings in somalia al-shabaab has claimed responsibility. government buildings in mere miles traveled record states have been targeted in a series of bombings three separate explosions went off in the state's capital city way early on saturday one policeman at least was injured three other unexploded devices were seized three days ago a bomb killed two bank employees in the northeastern city of last year no one has

so far claimed responsibility for the attacks rodger today those are the headlines coming up next here on al-jazeera is counting the. you stand the differences. and the similarities of cultures across the world. al-jazeera. alarm has i'm sick of this is counting the cost on al-jazeera your weekly look at the world of business and economics this week how corrupt is your country we'll talk to transparency international about the latest global rankings also this week the petro venezuela becomes the first government in history to launch its own cryptocurrency plus south africa's.